SAFETY OFFSHORE – Roles, Responsibilities, Regrets and Recriminations
SPE WA Perth 3 February 2010 National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority NOPSA JANE CUTLER
Today’s presentation …. • Why we are concerned about safety • Offshore safety in Australia – roles & responsibilities • Challenges in 2009, 2010 and beyond
Shallow gas blowouts
NOPSA • Single regulator – Commonwealth Statutory Authority • Regulates in Commonwealth waters and State/NT designated coastal waters (where mirror legislation is in place) • Administers – Offshore Petroleum & Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 & regulations – Offshore Petroleum (Safety Levies) Act 2003 & regulations
NOPSA’s legislative functions Focus on the OHS of people working in offshore petroleum operations …… • promote promote • • develop and implement effective monitoring monitoring and enforcement strategies to secure compliance enforcement • investigate investigate accidents, occurrences and • circumstances • advise advise • • cooperate cooperate with other Commonwealth agencies, • State or Northern Territory agencies
Regulatory Regime • ‘Duty of Care’ based • Permissioning regime with safety case acceptance as a permissioning tool • Safety cases accepted following assessment • Safety cases tested through inspection/audit by NOPSA • Regulatory actions to maintain safety case focus • Enforcement if required
Duty of Care In practice duty of care is shared among parties offshore: � Primary Group; Operator, persons in control of parts of facility or particular work, titleholders. � Subsidiary Group; employers, manufacturers, suppliers, installers and all persons regarding occupational health and safety.
Role of the Operator “The operator of a facility must take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that: a) the facility is safe and without risk facility is safe and without risk to health of any person at or near the facility; and b) all work and other activities work and other activities are carried out in a safe safe manner and without risk without risk to the health of any person at or near the facility.”
Role of the Workforce • Reasonably practicable steps • Must not create or increase OHS risk • Cooperates with the operator • Uses equipment in accordance with instructions • Must not interfere with safety equipment
NOSA’s Role - Verification • Is the Operator doing enough? – Assessment & acceptance of safety cases • Are they doing what they said they would do? – Inspection and audit of facilities • If something goes wrong … what happened? Did anyone break the law? Are sanctions required? – Investigation and enforcement
Ocean Odyssey, UK 1988, 1 fatality
What Does a Safety Case Do? Prevent Accidents Safety Case Hazards & Risks Formal Safety Assessment The Work to be Done The Work Place Facility Description Hardware Controls Procedural Controls Safety Management System
Mumbai High, India 2005, 22 fatalities
New Commonwealth Legislation
States Legislation
NOPSA’S Core Skills and Experience Inspectors Professional Engineers; Australian Chemical, Civil, Mechanical, Marine, Process, Electrical, Environmental and Public Service Investigator Occupational health OIM, Drilling Supervisor, Wells Engineer, OHS Practitioners Vessel Master, Design Engineer, Auditor, Warranty Surveyor. Business Management Law and legal Practitioners Government Regulator Enforcement Agency
Montara 2009, Timor Sea
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you’ll do things differently” Warren Buffet
P36 - Campos Basin 2001, 11 fatalities
Offshore Blowouts
What’s new in 2010 • Carbon Capture and Greenhouse Gas Storage • Floating LNG • Consolidated Offshore Regulations • Pipeline integrity • Output from Montara Comission of Inquiry
H 2 S from wells Gas Well Blowouts in Gaoqiao, Chongqing, China 23 December 2003 243 people died, 9,000 were injured, and 64,000 were evacuated Many of the confirm ed dead are children or elderly people w ho w ere unable to flee after the explosion. Those w ho did not escape in tim e suffered burns to their eyes, skin and lungs from the gas.
Next 5 Years • Well integrity? • Design safety case? • Inherent safety? • New technology?
“If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.” Barack Obama
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